A few of us on the Hand Cannon crew have been backing a number of different Kickstarter projects for various reasons. After some discussion, we thought it might be a worthy subject to tackle in the Kickstarter article series. This month, Autumn Stone weighs in, and next month I will provide the same. If we can kick DieselDM hard enough, perhaps we can get his input in the series as well. I hope these next few articles helps shed some light on the crowdfunding phenomenon and how it’s affecting the gaming industry.
-Gh00l
We are seeing unprecedented numbers of games coming out through kickstarter. There have been some great discussions of this (I recommend this one by Grumpy Wargamers – skip to 7:30 mins as there is a lot of durdling before this, or 23 mins for the kickstarter bit). My feeling is that asking questions like “Is Kickstarter good for the Gaming industry” is kinda pointless. Whether it is good or not, it is here to stay, and so we, as gaming consumers, instead need to work out our response to it.
Our response is going to based on our Demographic – aside from age, and taste in games, there will be factors like how much time we have to play or prepare games (paint minis), cash we have to spend on games (as opposed to all our other expenditures), social group to play with, self control when it comes to buying minis, feelings about quality vs quantity of product, and a host of other factors. In most things, I find myself to be a target market of 1. However in our eclectic little society, I suspect we are all weird enough people that I’ll find myself in good company…
Let me start by placing myself in a demographic. I am a full time parent of two young kids (just turned 5 and 7). On my time off from this arduous work, I go to a paying job where I can earn a decent wage. My wife works ridiculous hours (her choice) so only occasionally gets to see me or the kids, and so rarely gets in the way of my geekery.
I don’t have any substance abuse issues unless you count pewter and plastic. This means that despite kids, mortgage etc, I have a decent disposable income, a hobby that I want to spend it on because it keeps me sane, a wife who is willing to let me spend money on my hobby (because it encourages her kids to be geeks, and keeps her husband sane) and not enough time.
My children are interested in dad’s weird hobby. My daughter has declared she will be the next Jen Haley, and at age 4 had entered her first painting comp. My son has just requested a Cygnar battle box (though he is more interested in computer gaming than tabletop). This means I can justify (at least to myself) that some of my buys are actually for the kids.
I am willing to spend cash for quality (more on that later) but on the whole I’m on the price inelastic side of the curve – ie I’ll usually pay what I need to for something I want – if a mini I want is relatively (not ridiculously) expensive, that isn’t necessarily a barrier to me. I am something of a gaming magpie, and have fairly poor impulse control when it comes to a new pretty mini that takes my fancy. However I do have expenditure guilt – so after I have just made a big expenditure, I’ll feel guilty – which will rein in my impulse buys for a good time – at least until the next shiny comes along.
I have very good tolerance for delayed gratification. ie I am more than happy to spend now to receive later. In some ways I prefer it as it relieves a lot of my expenditure guilt.
Finally, I live in Australia. A lot of REALLY good stuff never makes it out to Australia. What does make it out here often has a significant price mark up. So if you can even find out about this great stuff, then you’ll still wait forever to see it in the stores, or have to order it online for overseas, and pay exorbitant postage.
TL;DR: Kickstarter being used as a pre-order sales system was built to take my money.
I guess the final part of the demographic equation might be risk adversity. Specifically the risk that the final product won’t be what you though you were paying for, or won’t be delivered on time, or, in the worst case scenario, that you invest in this guy, and it isn’t delivered at all
However in his incredible way, Tycho talked about the whole risk of kickstarter thing here, and probably said the truth best
For creators of sufficient lineage, Kickstarter is more blackmail than funding source. I feel that we can rely on that grim pressure.
When I buy into a kickstarter by Reaper, Soda Pop, Cool Mini or Not, Privateer Press, SJ games, etc … Am I really taking a risk? Answer : Yes.
I’m taking a risk that the product will be delivered late. Hell I can almost guarantee that it will be delivered late. Kickstarters that aren’t ready to ship at the time the kickstarter campaign begins (ie being used as a pre-sales storefront) then it will be delayed a month or two per multiple of the initial pledge goal. You should put this factor into your calculations. For companies you have heard of, or who are mentioned on Penny arcade, they will exceed their target by miles, and as a result, they will miss their delivery date.
I’m taking the risk that the product won’t be what I imagined. Many – even most of the pretty pictures of minis I back on kickstarter are either 3D renders, or art. What I receive are multi-part plastic or pewter, complete with mold lines. Sometimes even the poses have changed between render and product because it wasn’t do-able with the casting process chosen.
With the big names, I’m not risking that the product won’t be delivered. No established company is going to sink their company deliberately to steal your money. They may do it accidentally because they failed to plan for unseen costs like shipping, but even this isn’t happening any more. The companies kickstarting now know about the pitfalls these days. As Tycho says, for these companies, they are using kickstarter as a pre-sale system, and in many ways it is close to blackmail for the likes of me.
Invest in my kickstarter now and you’ll get a lot of product cheap in a years time. If you don’t, then you’ll have trouble finding it in Australia, and will pay through the nose to get it from overseas / on ebay
What have I Kickstarted …
I’ll start with the small number that have (in some way) been delivered.
The Order of the Stick Reprint Drive
This was the first Kickstarter I bought into. I already have the comics – so I didn’t need the product that was been kickstarted. I wanted the bonus loot. The bonus comics, the patches, etc. This kickstarter for a stick figure comic made $1,254,120 from 14,952 backers. I now have (for instance) a patch sitting un-used on my bookshelf, a fridge magnet hidden by kids pictures on the fridge, and a bunch of 1s and 0s that I have thoroughly enjoyed sitting on several bits of silicon in the house. This was absolutely worth the money I spent, and I would do it again in a heart beat. However it is still not completely delivered – despite being launched in Jan 2012, with a predicted delivery of June 2012.
As you can see, the sheer number of stretch goals has meant that the work required to deliver has completely blown out beyond all predictability. Again, if you go miles over your goal, delivery will be delayed.
Reaper Miniatures Bones: An Evolution Of Gaming Miniatures
So Bones is a bit of a special case. $3,429,235 from 17744 backers, giving you 240 minis for $100 is pretty hard to resist. Sure the plastic is crap, and the minis are of modest quality at best due to the crap plastic, but 40c/mini means my daughter is no longer asking to paint my just-assembled warbeast. I’ll even put a bit of effort into a few of them, when they are the prefect mini for an RPG character, and will do some batch paints of monsters for the swarms of minis I need for RPGs.
The things I like best from this kickstarter is some of the more expensive add ons. Specifically, I have often found I need some giants for things like DnD, so I bought a number at around $5 each from this kickstarter (and postage was included with the original package). I feel these are some of my better investments.
Pop-up paper house
Beyond comics and minis, do I kickstart anything else? $12 for a fun creative product to build with my daughter. Done!
Have I built it yet with my daughter? …. no.
But I have built several other similar things from PDF, so I have no doubt we’ll get around to it soon enough.
Krosmaster Arena Anime Miniatures Board Game
A gorgeous boardgame that I don’t need a community beyond my little gaming group, or even family. Pre-painted minis and terrain that I can use in other games. Looks like it’s pretty much ready to ship right now. YES PLEASE! Delivery delays pissed me off a bit with this one – but to be fair, they shouldn’t have, and when the 22lb box (!?!) turned up, all was forgiven – so much so that I’m heavily invested in the next one: Krosmaster Arena Anime Miniatures Game – Frigost Expansion
From my personal investor point of view, this one was interesting for two reasons. Firstly, I had never heard of this company before. It could have been a fly by night scam. I was somewhat re-assured by the fact that they seemed to be using kickstarter as a pre-order / pre-sales system rather than to actually kickstart a company that might go belly up. The pictures were essentially of a finished product, and a little research revealed that in Europe and on-line it pretty much was a finished product. Secondly, I have made some effort to find whether (post kickstarter) it is available in Australia. It isn’t. So in this case, and in the case of the expansion, it’s pretty much a case of buy it on kickstarter, or miss out.
It is expensive for a board game, but I have the money, the minis are pre-painted, so NO TIME INVESTMENT, and I plan to use the minis for more than the Krosmaster game (specifically teaching my kids to RPG)
MORE COMICS!
Girl Genius Volume 12 Printing and Reprint Frenzy!
I have been following Girl Genius for … pretty close to since its inception. And I’ve been following the Foglios since “What’s new – with Phil and Dixie” in Dragon Mag. I own a few paper copies of the comic already. Even my avatar is blatantly stolen from a larger piece of Phil Foglio’s work
So I backed the bejesus out of this one. One full set of comics, paper and PDF plus other sundry loot. Awesome. I’d been planning on finding a time when my expenditure guilt was low enough to go and buy a full set of these comics for ages, and then this came along. SHINY!
The comics have yet to appear, but they were only due sept 2013, so in adjusted KS time ($389,079 for a $55,000 goal 4441 backers. 6 x baseline goal = 6-12 months expected delay. They’ve still got plenty of time)
They have delivered the PDF version of all comics – though again the sheer size of the task crashed their servers, so they had to do a staged release.
Hello happy Girl Genius Kickstarter contributors!
I have been asked to say a word here about a small glitch regarding the dispersal of Girl Genius related happiness. Now as far as glitches go, this is pretty low key. One of the exciting extras you’re supposed to get are PDF version of the Girl Genius graphic novels, including Volume 12- Agatha Heterodyne & the Siege of Mechanicsburg. So, the technocrats in charge of this mishagas threw the big red switch that distributed the address from which you, the reader, could download our electric largess-
-And crashed their server. Becoming the latest in a long line of entities to underestimate the hidden power of Girl Genius fandom. (If you are getting this note, you are entitled to join in and give a sinister Bwa-ha-ha-ha. Go ahead, you’ll find it’s suprisingly cathartic.)
Anyhoo, despite this minor technilogical set-back (with which all true scientific advances are rife), rest assured that you will, in fact, still get the electronic entertainment which you are rightfully due. You will, however, have to be patient. Now, I’m not too worried about this ‘patient’ part, anybody who’s still with us after thirteen years has shown that they have the patience thing down to a science. But we did want to let you know that they are aware of the problem, and are addressing it as fast as they can, which as we all know, is 186,000 miles per second.
I have a few other comics I’ve backed at the PDF level, and have another one still running at the book and PDF level (Steampunk Zombie hunting for anyone interested – I think they’ve found my weakness)
Also on the subject of comics, is one of the few I’ve backed that didn’t get funded.
Boston Metaphysical Society Webcomic Mini-Series
is a weekly webcomic with an established fan base, great art, and an established product. Why didn’t it fund? I’m guessing the fickle winds of fate.
There’s less than 15 hours left and we’re at 30%. So I’m calling it. Not that I want to, but this Kickstarter is over. But don’t worry friends, BOSTON METAPHYSICAL SOCIETY isn’t down or out. We are simply going to regroup after getting some rest and preparing for the holidays.
…
My husband and I have already started to assemble the parts for the re-launch, which is going to take place in mid-January…
Still, it seems that if your first kickstarter doesn’t succeed and didn’t burn you out, then kickstarter is ready to go again as soon as you are.
And What about those that haven’t yet delivered …
Due April 2013, even on adjusted Kickstarter time this one is taking a while. They do send us pictures of where they are up to, but this one is slow. It will deliver, and when it does it will be a worthy product.
I have a deep and dividing love of all things Soda Pop, and when this one shows up on my door step, there will be much un-abashed SQUEE!. However it is late. Now with the kickstarter adjustment of $909,537 of a $20,000 goal = 45 x over, we can predict an order of magnitude in increased delivery problems. But there are a lot of grumbling around the interwebs on the lateness of this one, and I hope all ends up forgiven when it eventually delivers. It’s supposed to be soon, though I suspect it won’t be in time for an Australian Christmas.
Adam Poots, who got over $2 million for Kingdom Death quite famously and openly declared he was delaying his kickstarter, and was roundly applauded for doing so.
I am delaying the project.
This has been an incredibly hard decision to make. Sticking to the timeline and fulfilling the entire project on time was paramount. The backers (you guys!) would be thrilled and the final product would be just in time for new buyers during the holiday shopping season. And I think we all know, that is a big deal for the future of KD.
…
Plastic
After touring and evaluating many options, a deal was struck with an incredibly talented factory and we decided that Kingdom Death deserved the best. Essentially, hard plastic kits on sprues, just like GW and many other companies. …
Kingdom Death has some of the most beautiful minis in the business. People buy into this one because of the gorgeous minis (if abberant cheescake horror is your thing). People buying into this are buying it for beauty, not for cheap mass produced shit, and so a decision to delay so the minis are made of stuff that will make putting them together and painting more pleasant and ultimately give you better minis is welcomed by the people buying them. I suspect if a product like Wrath of Kings announced they were delaying so they could change materials from restec to white metal, there would be very mixed feelings. Many (the hobby inclined – myself included) would welcome it. But investors wanting to get a mass produced army on the table so they can play a game, and don’t care about mold line cleanup, but do care about all the extra pinning they’d have to do, would be filled with nerd rage, and we’d see nerd rioting in the streets. For anyone who hasn’t seen nerdriots, thank your lucky stars.
Deciding to use hard styrene for plastic, Kingdom death has the best of both worlds, and this makes the delay more than forgivable to his target market. again using the WOK example, it is quite likely there would still be nerdrioting if they announced they were delaying so as to use styrene. For the crowd that just want to get a game on the table, the delay would matter more than the material.
On the opposite side of the coin, there’s Myth
Myth was actually due to be delivered ahead of time – unheard of for a minis based kickstarter (doubly so for it’s funding! $926,112 of $40,000 goal = 23 x goal) but was delayed, not by production issues, but by the federal tax system.
Shall we cut to the quick? We won’t deliver the game early (even if we could), but for a much different reason than expected. It has nothing to do with production or shipping or customs…it has to do with taxes.
We met with our CPA last Friday for about 3 hours. In non-accounting speak, if we receive the shipment too early in the year, the value of the inventory is added to the value of the business and is taxed. We were clever with the comings and goings of the actual KS cash, we just didn’t quite understand the significance of the actual shipment. After going through all the tricks and wizardry the CPAs could do to speed up or delay reporting specific elements, if we receive the shipment early we would owe somewhere in the vicinity of 200k to the taxman. This is something we wish to avoid.
This is more than reasonable, and anyone who says otherwise is just being silly.
Reasoning behind other stuff I’ve backed…
I probably need to keep this short and sweet, as I’ve written a mammoth essay already.
I’ve been following this comic for 10 years. Aaron Alexovich is a genius. I was in on this one with seconds of it going live. It’s still live until Saturday Nov 30, 8:00pm EST if you want in. If not, Here’s his webcomic site
Clockwork: Empire Roleplaying Game is itself a concept I really want to get behind. They also promised a really sweet mechanic for keeping everyone at the table involved while it was someone else’s turn. Finally, they delivered a pre-release of thier game for free through drive thru RPG which is a brilliant marketing strategy.
Fairytale Games: The Miniatures Campaign
What can I say. I love fairytales, I love miniatures. Sure I hate the crap restic they will be produced in, but I’m not going to be able to get these any other way. I couldn’t care less about thier game, but they offered an “All the miniatures” backing level, and allowed me to buy bonus art books. Throw in the fact they offer specific cheesecake minis, and I’d blown another wodge of dosh. … hmmm that sounds kinda naughty. Dosh is Australian for money, so shame on all of you.
This one was really just a $15 punt that I’d find something worth the time I’d spend reading it. I mean $15 it’s a couple of coffees
I made a few similar cheap punts on a kickstarter on the same principal. Especially ones that are PDF only, (so no postage) I’m willing to take a chance on a reasonable sales pitch
Lady Sabre – a swashbuckling steampunk comic
Hunters of Arcfall – A Sci-Fi Bounty Hunting Dice Game is a simple dice game that. Again something I’m willing to take a punt on, and if I’m wrong, I’m out the price of a meal.
OVA: The Anime Role-Playing Game is something I’m honestly excited about. I’m not sure which I love more – Anime or Steam Punk, and this one looks GOOD. It’s due date is December, but I think their time frame was unrealistic from the start, so I’m not expecting it until mid 2014. Looks like it’ll be worth the wait.
I’ve backed two computer games – Megatokyo Visual Novel Game because I’m a fan of the comic, and WARMACHINE: TACTICS because I wanted the limited release minis. It’s possible I’ll play the computer games that come with the addons I actually wanted.
And finally I have a few of the ubiquitous CMON mini extravaganzas.
Wrath of Kings Ibought into because I love the minis, and hordes of monsters, cultists etc for RPGs are something I need.
Kaosball Just looks fun, and does not require a large meta to play, and I suspect that it may not be multipart models so not as painful to get to a playable point.
Parting Thoughts
I’m deliberately avoiding talking about the Kickstarter model of funding or what it means for the gaming industry. This is already long, and I think that’s a topic for another article. I’ve tried to concentrate on talking about the product that kickstarters eventually deliver to our door.
But we do need to address the question of the quality of the product delivered – specifically the material the minis are made of for the vast bulk of miniature kickstarters. With the exception of Kickstarters by Stonehaven who produce metal, the above mentioned Kingdom death, or Mantic’s Mars attacks, you are getting a metric ton of miniatures produced in the abominable restic plastic. I despise this material. It’s hard (sometimes impossible) to clean up, less pleasant to paint than metal or styrene, and just makes me a sad panda. Should I just not buy into kickstarters of this horrible material.
The problem is that I want things that are in the shape they offer, and my hatred of the material is not enough to damp my desire for the shape. As I mentioned I’ll find it difficult to get many of these minis in Australia regardless, and when they do come out, I’ll still only be able to get them in this horrible material. As much as I do spend on kickstarters, even if I did declare that I’d only buy into styrene or metal mini kickstarters, I’m a tiny drop in the ocean to these companies. They will not change thier choice of material based on my spending pattern.
I think “should kickstarter minis be restic or styrene” is the wrong question. You and I have no say in that. We can loudly shout our preference and hope that sentiment changes. But after the kickstarter campaign, the minis will be what they will be. They won’t be giving you options. You can just decide if you want to buy them in the material the company decided to use, and for econmic reasons, that usually seems to be crappy restic.
Until next time
Happy kickstarting
Cheers Autumn Stone
The post Kickstarter: Backed Projects & Opinions – Part 1 – Autumn Stone appeared first on Hand Cannon Online.